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By Barry Porter and Susan Li - Nov 21, 2012Tony Fernandes, chairman of Queens Park Rangers Football Club, said he was “confident” he can turn things around at the English soccer club which has failed to win a league game this season.

“I’ve been in worse situations before,” Fernandes said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Kuala Lumpur. “Let’s wait and see. We remain confident that things can be sorted.”

Fernandes declined to comment on the fate of the club’s manager Mark Hughes.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Barry Porter at bporter10@bloomberg.net Bloomberg

FORGET the big names, Bluebirds’ boss Malky Mackay believes that signing defender Matthew Connolly might just be the best bit of business he’s done this year.

Cardiff City head for the first of two away games on the bounce on Saturday with a trip to Barnsley followed up by a visit to Derby on Tuesday.

Mackay finds himself hit by an injury crisis in defence with Ben Turner, Andrew Taylor and Kevin McNaughton all set to miss out on at least the clash at Oakwell.

Mackay has been searching to bring in at least one defender on loan and yesterday secured the services of Norwich City’s Simon Lappin on loan until the end of the year.

But, as always in times of crisis, the Cardiff manager has found himself valuing what he has just that little bit more.

“As the season goes on, signing Matt Connolly looks like a better and better piece of business,” said Mackay.

“His versatility has really been an asset for us. We have needed that and his attitude has been spot-on since he came here.

“The best thing really has been that he has been very consistent for us. Whether he has played at centre-half or full-back there has been no drop in standards and that’s what we needed from him.”

A trainee at Arsenal, 25-year-old Connolly was a mainstay of the QPR side which ran away with the Championship under then Hoops’ boss Neil Warnock.

He also had a loan spell at Reading last season as they too made it up to the top flight.

Deemed superfluous to requirements under current QPR boss, Mark Hughes, Connolly was allowed to head to the Welsh capital on a three-year deal for a transfer fee reportedly in the region of £500,000.

To say the Barnet-born defender was thrown in and the deep end at the Bluebirds would be something of an understatement.

Within 48 hours of putting pen to paper he was straight into the starting XI as Mackay’s side headed to Bristol City for an usually intense Severnside derby.

With centre-half Turner out with a foot injury, Connolly was brought in at the heart of defence to partner skipper mark Hudson.

And to say it was a baptism of fire for Connolly would be an understatement as the Bluebirds leaked four goals to lose out 4-2.

But Connolly soon knuckled down to the task and by the time Turner, last year’s break-out player under Mackay, was fit he could not find a route back into the side.

Indeed, even when after a 3-1 defeat at Forest last month Mackay was minded to make changes, it was full-back Kevin McNaughton who hit the bench with Connolly slipped out to right-back.

Since arriving Connolly has missed just one game for his new club, the home win over Hull, and that was due to injury.

One added bonus of Connolly’s presence has been a little glut of rather uncharacteristic goals. He has four so far this season, just one away from the total number he has managed in his entire career to date.

He grabbed two in the 3-0 win over Blackpool, one in the 4-0 dismissal of Burnley and the winner in Mackay and his men’s 1-0 win over high-flying Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Mackay said he had been looking to get Connolly in more positions where goals might follow.

“Perhaps the lack of goals before he arrived was due to the fact he was not put in the right positions,” said Mackay.

“We are encouraging Matt to get forward for set-pieces and get into positions.

“He’s proved very good at that and scored some important goals for us this campaign already.

Connolly himself has been full of praise for the service has been getting each time he has found the back of the net.

In particular it has been Peter Whittingham, perhaps the best striker of the dead-ball in the whole Championship, who has supplied Connolly with the ammunition to convert.

Three of Connolly’s goals this term have come from corners fired in by Whittingham.

Most recently, it was the midfielder’s stunning corner to the back-post against Boro which Connolly was on hand to head home from point-blank range.

“I’d love to score more this season and if Whitts keeps putting balls in like he has been I will have every chance,” said Connolly.

“We are a threat from set-pieces. Ben Turner gets in there and Mark Hudson and myself. It’s really just all about the quality of the delivery from Peter Whittingham.

“A few of the goals I’ve scored have been at the back post. He puts it in with great quality and it is very hard for the goalkeeper and defenders to defend it. I just edge out to the back post and it’s worked so far.

“Whitts just has one hell of a left foot and he can do whatever he wants with it.

“We know with the way he crosses we are going to be able to get on the end of things.”

With the Bluebirds now sitting second in the division and with those trips to Barnsley and Derby beckoning, Mackay will be hoping his ‘top deal’ defender will be keeping things tight at the back and popping up with the odd goal, too, throughout the rest of the season

Queens
Park Rangers chief executive Philip Beard insists the club are doing
all they can to turn end their miserable run of form.

Manager
Mark Hughes has come under huge pressure following a start to the season
which has seen his side fall four points adrift at the foot of the
Premier League table.

Hughes remains in control of the side
following a disappointing loss to Southampton and took charge of
training on Tuesday as the build-up to Saturday's trip to Manchester
United begins.

Beard, who held a two-hour meeting with Hughes on
Monday, was at the training ground again a day later but brushed off
suggestions that his presence is part of any increased scrutiny on the
manager.

"I spend a lot of time at the training ground, it's no different to usual," Beard told Sky Sports News.

"We're
working hard, we want to turn this around and make sure we do what the
fans want, which is to sort ourselves out and get the season back on
track."

Club backer Din Kamarudin is also in town but Beard says his trip is not related to any decision about Hughes' future.

He
added: "We've got shareholders and when they come to town they come to
the training ground. Din's here for the game on Saturday and is looking
forward to it, so preparations are going well.

"We are working really hard and we want to turn this season around. It's important we do it for the fans."

QPR
were quick to deny any talk about Hughes' exit on Monday night and
retained that stance on Tuesday, insisting it was "business as usual"
and that he had took training.

Despite QPR confirming the
Welshman remains in charge, odds have continued to shorten on him
becoming the first Premier League manager to leave his post and one
bookmaker has him as low as 1/10.

Sven-Goran Eriksson and Rafa
Benitez have been mentioned as potential replacements, although Harry
Redknapp is over-riding favourite to replace the Welshman.

The 65-year-old has been out of work since leaving Tottenham in the summer and has not hid his desire to return to management.

Should
QPR part company with Hughes, they could face a battle for Redknapp's
signature from an unlikely source as the Football Federation of Ukraine
revealed in a statement this afternoon they would like him to succeed
Oleg Blokhin as national team manager.